News about large iceberg calvings have become a constant in recent decades. About a year ago, a massive calving occurred that affected an iceberg measuring 1,270 square kilometers. Now, just a few days ago, a the size of London broke off its ice shelf. We know that it has been accelerating the melting of sea ice in some parts of Antarctica, but this time it seems that the climate does not have much to do with the separation of this iceberg.
What is an iceberg and why do they break off?
The polar regions and Antarctica are made up of enormous masses of ice known as glaciers, due to various reasons these masses end up breaking up giving rise to icebergs, which are large plates of floating in the oceans thanks to the fact that they have broken off from the glaciers. In general, icebergs are formed by frost and snow that have the sea as their only support.
Iceberg calving is a normal event in the life cycle of a glacier-fed ice shelf, even when the calved icebergs are huge. When this happens, the lost ice is replaced over the course of years or decades, only when the pace of glacial calving accelerates significantly over an extended period of time is the system considered to be in retreat.
According to an organization that researches the polar regions, iceberg calving is a natural process known as calving and it is not normally caused by climate change or any environmental crisis that is currently being experienced.
Before and after 🤓
Here’s a super sharp view of the vast new breaking away from the Brunt Ice Shelf in .
📸 Sentinel-2 & thanks to for the before shot from 20 Jan.
— British Antarctic Survey 🐧 (@BAS_News)
Iceberg the size of London
The iceberg in question, measuring about 1,550 square kilometers, broke off from the ice shelf known as Bruntwhere the BAS Halley research station is based, this happened just a decade after scientists first detected huge cracks in the platform.
The ice block came loose when the crack, known as Chasm-1spread completely across the platform of ice. The platform Brunt It is probably the most monitored on Earth, since platform measurements are made every hour throughout the day with a network of 16 high-precision GPS instruments.
“This episode of detachment was expected and is part of the natural behavior of the ice shelf Brunt”declared BAS glaciologist Dominic Hodgson. In fact, it had already been reported that glaciologists and operational staff at Halley had already anticipated this event.
British Research Station
The British research station Halley VI, which was relocated inland for safety reasons around 2016 as ice cracks threatened to leave it isolated, daily monitors the condition of the large floating ice shelf, which is not has been affected by the last breakup.
Since the relocation, work on the platform is only carried out during the summer , which runs from November to March. It currently has 21 researchers on site, who maintain the sources and facilities that allow them to continue operating and reporting remotely during the winter. When there is for 24 hours and the temperature drops below -50°C (58 degrees Fahrenheit below zero).
“Our operational science teams continue to monitor the ice shelf in real time to ensure its safety and maintain the delivery of the science we carry out at Halley,” Hodgson said.
According to the world leader in environmental research in the region, the planes are scheduled to pick up the scientists who are on the platform around February 6.